News
Degenerating TO Unacceptable Level
A country’s rating, to a large extent, depends on objective appraisal and assessment of the citizens’ standard of living. Thus it is obvious, that no country can be classified to be rich and wealthy when her citizens are living in penury.
The citizenry cannot be sad and hungry when the country is seen as a giant within a region or continent. Indeed, Nigeria cannot continue to pride herself as the giant of Africa when her over 150 million citizens lack basic necessities of life, shelter, food, potable water, good health and education, transport and lately security.
In other words, for a country to be reckoned with within the comity of nation (states), such country should ab-initio provide decent housing, qualitative education, decent food, potable water, good healthcare, efficient transport, regular light (electricity) and round-the-clock security for its citizens, whether high or low.
And the questions is; Does Nigeria belong to this category of nations with such facilities in place? Obviously, the answer is simply negative.
Statistics from the office of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reveal a pathetic and horrible scenario which should disturb every well-meaning Nigerian, home and in Diaspora.
According to the figures: over 65 million Nigerians live below one dollar per day. Eight million Nigerian children have no access to education and over half of the country’s population dwell in abject poverty.
These heart-rending revelations as grim and astonishing as they sound are nonetheless the realities of the socio-economic dilemma most Nigerians find themselves in the midst of plenty.
For a country that has so much natural resources to degenerate to that level calls for so much concern by the leadership.
In major cities like Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, among others, many families and individuals depend on less than the aforesaid one dollar (about N140) daily for survival.
The rising incidence of destitution, prostitution, robbery, kidnapping and other social vices in our cities is evidence of the deplorable conditions of living in the country.
Nigeria’s image cannot be said to be better abroad when our people are distressed. How do we re-brand Nigeria when our stomach is empty? Questions, many questions but no answers.
Incidentally, what fuels the rate of poverty is corruption which permeates virtually every segment of our national life. The police, Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Customs, Immigrations, NNPC, bankers, politicians and infact our political leaders are all corrupt.
Nigerians are inundated with stories of top public functionaries who convert, with impunity public funds into their private purse.
The recent probe of banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reveals how rotten the nation’s banking sector is. What about the probe of the power and energy sectors by the National Assembly.
Few and privileged Nigerians live in ostentation in the midst of the majority who contend with hunger, strife and pervasive penury. The privileged few who do not give a damn do so with glee thereby compounding the problems of the already traumatised poor.
The tiny wealthy minority controls the nation’s stupendous wealth. The irony and tragedy is that the leadership does not have the political will to address the abnormality of our collective predicament.
The systematic poverty has grown to a dangerous level that is almost exterminating the middle class. It is now either, you belong to the few on top, or the majority below. No mid way again.
Nigerian leaders need to revisit the philosophy of the MDGs initiated in 2000 by the United Nations (UN) to eliminate poverty in planet earth by 2015.
It is indeed ironic and shameful that less than six years to the target date, most Nigerians are still living in systematic poverty and are pauperized despite laudable programmes like the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP).
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
-
Sports3 days ago
CAFCL : Rivers United Arrives DR Congo
-
Sports3 days ago
FIFA rankings: S’Eagles drop Position, remain sixth in Africa
-
Sports3 days ago
NPFL club name Iorfa new GM
-
Sports3 days ago
NNL abolishes playoffs for NPFL promotion
-
Sports3 days ago
NSF: Early preparations begin for 2026 National Sports Festival
-
Sports3 days ago
Kwara Hopeful To Host Confed Cup in Ilorin
-
Sports3 days ago
RSG Award Renovation Work At Yakubu Gowon Stadium
-
Politics3 days agoRivers Assembly Resumes Sitting After Six-Month Suspension